I hope you had a good Christmas this year despite everything. This has been a Christmas unlike any other in any of our memories. Not even the World Wars forced the suspension of in-person worship. This year has been hard for us all. And for many – not just some – it’s been brutal. When we missed Easter earlier in the Pandemic I was sad. That’s my favorite service of the year. I missed it a lot. I couldn’t imagine that we’d also miss Christmas Eve too. And I think it has surprised most of us. And to top it off the virus is still burning hot through the world and our state and Orange county, so even with the vaccines becoming available, Easter 2021 is still not certain.
As we come to Christmas we are mindful of how painful this year is. As for me this is the first time in over 50 years I’ve not been ‘in church’ on Christmas Eve. For some of you it may be an even longer time. We all deeply miss each other at church and also gathering with family for festive meals or traveling.
Early this morning (Christmas Eve) I enjoyed listening to the Service of Lessons and Carols broadcast from Cambridge, England. They have been doing this at King’s College, Cambridge since 1918. In fact, they invented it. This is a powerful and beautiful service – the ‘gold standard’ for Lessons and Carols services. Right now Britain is under a lockdown and they could not meet in the Chapel to perform the service for the first time in their 102 year history. Fortunately they had planned ahead and pre-recorded the music at the rehersals. Good thing they did. This sort of thing is happening all over the world this year – including at Lamb of God. We’ve had to adapt, too. It isn’t ideal, but it is working reasonably well for now. We can only hope better days will come sooner than later in 2021.
What I’d like to ask you is this question: How has this year changed your feelings about Christmas? How do you think differently (or perhaps not) about Christmas after what you’ve experienced? And, how will what happened this year change what you do at Christmastime next year – assuming, of course, the virus is no longer a problem then. I’d be very interested in your thoughts. Feel free to share your reflections here.